'There are very few people who could say that safely, Leman,' warned Malcador. 'You might not be one of them.'

Russ paid no heed to his tone. 'Perhaps there should be more who are willing to say it. I sometimes think my father should have heeded you better,' said Russ. He took another piece. 'But I like the way I am, so perhaps I should be glad that He didn't. Even if He had, it wouldn't have made a damn bit of difference. He could have engineered us all to love each other and skip about holding hands like children, but it wouldn't have worked. I've seen brothers from mortal families stain their swords with each other's blood often enough over the most stupid of things. Nature and family made them to care, and they didn't. Not even He can predict everything.'

'He cannot,' agreed Malcador. He moved another piece. Russ took it.

'Try harder,' said Russ, and made his move.

'You cannot beat him, not like he is now,' said Malcador.

'Him being Horus.'

'Who else?'

Russ looked up again from under his glowering brow. 'You are trying to dissuade me. Stop it. Sanguinius is here, they need me less.'

'I'm not trying to do anything,' said Malcador calmly. 'But neither I nor the Emperor can see what will happen to you. I need to make sure you are not going to use yourself wastefully.'

'Is that from affection, Malcador, or don't you want to lose a useful weapon?'

'What do you think?'

Russ hunched lower. 'Both.' He tugged at his bottom lip and shook his head. 'I know I can't win.' He sat up. Though he looked down on Malcador from a considerable height advantage, his words were delivered from the heart, as a son seeking counsel from his father. His barbarian bluster fell away, stripped off like the leather masks his warriors wore, revealing the man beneath the beast. 'So I will have to find a way of beating him. You heard the Knights Errant's report. Horus is beyond the touch of mortal steel. On Fenris, the gothi turn the world spirit against the wights and ghosts. I am forced to do the same. I will travel home, where my priests are powerful, and consult with them there. I suppose that's why you've called me, to give a warning or something.'

'Or something,' said Malcador. The regent took a tight, considered breath. 'I want you to listen to me, Leman, very carefully. You have always understood the virtue of restraint. You and the Khan both know the value of the warp but both of you have been alive to its dangers from the very beginning.'

'And Dorn called me a hypocrite for it,' said Russ.

'I was there.'